Flourishing programs in 80+ disciplines. A vibrant Christian mission. $50 million
in new campus construction. A 2014 Division III national championship. 95% placement
within 6 months of graduation. There’s never been a better time to consider Hope College.

As a member of the MIAA and NCAA Division III associations, Hope College sponsors
22 varsity sports for men and women. The college is home to the 2014 NCAA Division
III National Championship women’s volleyball team.

Poetry Anthology Co-Edited by Jack Ridl Named Michigan Notable Book

Breadcrumb Navigation

The Library of Michigan has named the anthology “Poetry in Michigan/Michigan in Poetry,”
co-edited by Jack Ridl, professor emeritus of English at Hope College, a 2014 Michigan
Notable Book.

The annual Michigan Notable Books Program list, announced this year on Friday, Jan.
3, features 20 books published in the previous calendar year that are about Michigan
or the Great Lakes region, or are written by a Michigan author. Selections include
nonfiction and fiction books that appeal to a variety of audiences and cover a range
of topics and issues close to the hearts of Michigan residents.

“Poetry in Michigan/Michigan in Poetry” is a 203-page hardcover book featuring work
by 90 Michigan poets and 48 works of art by Michigan artists. Ridl, who taught at
Hope from 1971 until retiring in 2006, co-edited the book with award-winning poet
Dr. William Olsen, a professor of English at Western Michigan University.

“Poems from Michigan’s most recognized poets are gathered in this beautiful single
volume,” the library’s announcement noted. “The anthology gathers an intriguing range
of poets and artists, their visions and voices, exploring the variances in Michigan
landscape; shoreline; lives lived in the city, town and countryside; our uncommon
diversity of cultures, points of view, concerns, celebrations, losses, and histories.”

Several Hope faculty and alumni are among those with selections in the anthology.

Current members of the Hope faculty with poetry in the book are David R. James, adjunct
associate professor of English, who is a 1976 Hope graduate; Dr. Rhoda Janzen Burton,
associate professor of English; Susanna Childress, visiting assistant professor of
English; Greg Rappleye, part-time lecturer in English; and Dr. Heather Sellers, professor
of English. The book also includes poetry by Jackie Bartley, who retired from the
college’s English faculty last year, and by Ridl.

In addition to James, alumni with poetry in the anthology (and their class year) include
Tom Andrews (1984), Chris Dombrowski (1998), Kathleen McGookey (1989) and Julie (Moulds)
Rybicki (1985). The work by Andrews and Rybicki was included posthumously; they died
in 2001 and 2008 respectively.

The artists with work in the book include Michelle Calkins (1990).

Many of the poets with work in the anthology have read at Hope through the college’s
Jack Ridl Visiting Writers Series, which Ridl co-founded with his wife, Julie, in
1982.

Ridl is the author of several collections of poetry, most recently “Practicing to
Walk Like a Heron” (2013), and has also published more than 300 poems in journals
and has work included in numerous anthologies. In addition, he has read his work
and led workshops at colleges, universities, art colonies and other venues around
the country.

He has received multiple awards for his collections. His 2009 collection “Losing
Season” (CavanKerry Press) was named the 2009 “Sports Education Book of the Year”
by the Institute for International Sport at the University of Rhode Island. The Society
of Midland Authors named “Broken Symmetry” one of the two best volumes of poetry published
in 2006. In 2001, his collection “Against Elegies” was chosen by U.S. Poet Laureate
Billy Collins as the winner of the “Letterpress Chapbook Competition” sponsored by
the Center for Book Arts of New York City. Ridl’s other volumes include “The Same
Ghost,” “Between,” “After School,” “Poems from ‘The Same Ghost’ and ‘Between,’” and
“Outside the Center Ring.”

In addition to his volumes of poetry, Ridl is co-author, with Hope colleague Peter
Schakel, of two textbooks, “Approaching Poetry: Perspectives and Responses” and “Approaching
Literature.” They also co-edited two anthologies.

Ridl also received recognition both at Hope and beyond as a master teacher. In 1996,
he was chosen Michigan’s “Professor of the Year” by the Carnegie Foundation for the
Advancement of Teaching. The college’s graduating class presented him with the “Hope
Outstanding Professor Educator” Award in 1976, and the student body elected him recipient
of the “Favorite Faculty/Staff Member” Award in 2003. He was chosen by the graduating
seniors to be the Commencement speaker in both 1975 and 1986.

More than 75 of Ridl’s students are now published authors themselves.

Copies of “Poetry in Michigan/Michigan in Poetry” are available for $40 at the college’s
Hope-Geneva Bookstore, which is located on the ground level of the DeWitt Center,
141 E. 12th St., and can be called at 800-946-4673 or (616) 395-7833.

Related News

08 Jan

Winter Happening Features Faculty on Jan. 25

Carcinogens in the environment, a children’s village in Rwanda, the art and architecture of sacred spaces, wolves in Michigan, the Macatawa Watershed and Greek drama in the Americas will all be featured during the annual Hope College Winter Happening on Saturday, Jan. 25.